Dave Grohl, left, and Rick Springfield rock out during the final Sound City Players show at Stubb's in Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest music conference Thursday. Grohl assembled a well-regarded roster of rockers for the band--including Stevie Nicks and John Fogerty--to play a special series of shows to promote his new documentary "Sound City," about a famed recording studio. Photo by Associated Press.| March 16, 2013»Read Full Blog Post

Next weekend, baritone Andrew Wilkowske, fresh from a role with the Florentine Opera, will stand amid the crystal chandeliers of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music's lovely recital hall, open his mouth . . .

. . . and let fly the opening lines of Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now," followed by a few power chords on his electric guitar. | March 16, 2013»Read Full Article

When the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra turns to opera, it does so in a big, glowing fashion.

The orchestra and music director Edo de Waart presented a riveting, semi-staged performance of Bartok's opera "Bluebeard's Castle" on Friday evening, complete with six breathtaking glass sculptures designed for the opera by artist Dale Chihuly. | March 16, 2013»Read Full Article

Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" is not only one of the greatest American plays ever written. It's also a play - read in school, seen on film and frequently performed - we all think we know better than we actually do.

The Milwaukee Repertory Theater drove these truths home Friday night, opening a galvanic production of "Raisin" that will go down as a landmark we'll be talking about for years - and that I assure you is like no "Raisin" you've ever seen. | March 16, 2013»Read Full Article

It is hard not to be drawn in by Dorothea Lange's iconic photograph called "Migrant Mother." The photo, a now ubiquitous image of struggling farm workers during the Great Depression, is startling in its honest depiction of poverty, strength and despair.

It was this picture, hanging in a gallery at New York's Museum of Modern Art, that inspired acclaimed writer and filmmaker Marisa Silver to pen her new novel, "Mary Coin." Like many other fascinated viewers before her, Silver imagines the moment that the government photographer (here called Vera Dare) approached the destitute family matriarch (Mary Coin) and asked to capture a moment of her life on film. | March 16, 2013»Read Full Article

After scheduling the musical "Les Misérables" in the Skylight Music Theatre's holiday-period slot next season, incoming artistic director Viswa Subbaraman got excited about the possibility of programming other shows that reflect themes of freedom, liberty and revolution.

Subbaraman, the son of Indian immigrants to the United States, also has crafted a lineup with a striking amount of musical and ethnic diversity. Here's a capsule overview of next season: | March 16, 2013»Read Full Article